THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM (Part 9)

The Gospel Of Matthew

 
 

Matthew as the Gospel of the New Israel

Matthew pays much attention to the Church; it is an ecclesiastical Gospel, for certain striking passages dealing with the Church are to be found only in Matthew’s Gospel.
 

• Some have claimed that the passage (16: 18 19) reflects differences of opinion in the Early Church as to who was the leader -- was it Paul, or James or Peter? Matthew supports the authority of Peter.

• Again in Chapter eighteen we have a long discussion about Church Discipline, but note especially 18: 15 - 20.

• Finally, in the last chapter of the Gospel, words are placed on the lips of the Risen Christ which are peculiar to Matthew, but full of significance for the life of the Church. They assure the Christian community of the continued living presence of Jesus.

Such ecclesiasticism must have developed slowly, a fact which means, as we have said above, that Matthew in the view of many cannot be dated to early. Matthew already reveals the process which was soon to lead to the emergence of what is called Catholicism..

This aspect os Matthew has been increasingly noticed recently, and its direct relation to the life of the Church within which it emerged has been more and more stressed.  The communal or “churchly” concern of a pre-Matthaean community has been revealed in Matthew and this concern has been clarified by stressing the significance of Jesus over against the Old Testament and using quotations to illuminate his life. This school of Christians was anxious to take the words of Jesus and apply them to the life of the Church. With this two fold concern they produced Matthew, which presents Jesus as the fulfilment of the Old Testament and as the source of a kind of “Book of Orders”, a Manual of Discipline for the Church. This demonstrates how, although Matthew is expecting the end of all things, he is also concentrating on the life of the Christian Church here and now in the world. The end is sure to come and may come soon; therefore, “Watch and Pray”. But meanwhile, preparing for the end, living in readiness for , the Church must go on. And Matthew, throughout his five great discourses, provides guidance for the Church in its various aspects. Matthew’s Gospel moulds the tradition of the words and works o f Jesus to provide guidance for his Church. It is the Gospel of the New Israel.

(to be continued)